Gen E F Dutton Camp 49, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

Gen E F Dutton Camp 49 is the local camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), located in Sycamore, IL. Our members are mostly from DeKalb County. What is now known as Camp 49 was originally chartered at Sycamore, IL in 1905 as a camp of the Sons of Veterans of the United States and named for Everell F. Dutton, a prominent Sycamore resident and former lieutenant-colonel of the 1

05th Illinois Infantry Regiment who was brevetted to the rank of brigadier general at war's end for meritorious service. The original camp dissolved sometime in the 1930s. SUVCW E F Dutton Camp 49 was re-chartered in 2011 as the living legacy of the original SUV camp in Sycamore. The SUVCW is a fraternal organization dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of veteran heroes who fought and worked to save the Union in the American Civil War. Organized in 1881 and chartered by Congress in 1954, SUVCW is the legal heir and successor to the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1866, Union Veterans of the Civil War organized into the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and became a social and political force that would control the destiny of the nation for more than six decades. Membership in the veterans’ organization was restricted to individuals who had served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Revenue Cutter Service during the Civil War, thereby limiting the life span of the GAR. In 1881 the Sons of Veterans of the United States of America (SV) was founded by GAR member Augustus P. Davis, to carry on the GAR traditions and memory long after it had ceased to exist. Memership was open to any man who could prove ancestry to a member of the GAR or to a veteran eligible for membership in the GAR. In later years, men who did not have the ancestry to qualify for hereditary membership, but who demonstrated a genuine interest in the Civil War and could subscribe to the purpose and objectives of the SUVCW, were admitted as Associates. This practice continues today. Many GAR Posts sponsored Camps of the SV. In 1925 the SV name was changed to Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), under which its federal charter was issued in 1954. The SUVCW is legally recognized as the heir to, and representative of, the GAR. Today, the National Organization of the SUVCW oversees 200 community based camps which are organized into 26 Departments. More than 6,360 men enjoy the benefits of membership in the only male organization dedicated to the principles of the GAR — Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty. It publishes “The BANNER” quarterly for its members. The SUVCW National Headquarters is located in the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The SUVCW is one of five Allied Orders of the GAR. The other four Orders are: Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, Woman’s Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War.